Month: January 2019

So it’s that time of year when I try and look back over what I had hoped to achieve during the previous year and set myself some aims and goals for the year ahead.
I’ll start by reviewing the goals I had for 2018:

Volunteer at least six times at parkrun including in the role of pacer

Not quite. This year I’ve volunteered in the role of pacer (30 minutes), barcode scanner, pre-event setup and post-event close down, so I’ve only managed to volunteer four of the six times I had hoped to volunteer during 2018. (Parkrun suggest that volunteering three times a year is a good target to aim for.) Although I haven’t met this target, I’m happy that I managed to volunteer four times. Early in the year, getting to parkrun at all was rather difficult, as I was working through the night until 7am on a Saturday morning each week. Now volunteering has become more challenging as I often have Oscar with me, but there are still plenty of roles I can help out in and intend to during 2019. (See 2019 goals further down the page.)

Complete a 100 mile race

I was so, so happy to have completed the Robin Hood 100 in the Autumn! It meant so much for me to cross that finish line and I will forever be in debt to all the people who helped me get to the start and finish of the race that day.

PB at 5k, half and marathon distances

Fail, fail and mighty fail! Haha! 2019 was definitely not the year of the PB (unlike 2015!) My fastest 5k time in 2018 was 27:06 (compared to my PB set in 2017 of 26:35), I walked the majority of Milton Keynes Half in March following an injury (finishing in 2:50:42, when my PB from 2012 is 2:09:16) and the only road marathon I ran during the year was in 28 degree heat. When I found myself dodging nothing but walkers out on the course by mile 11, I decided to just enjoy the race instead, making the most of the race atmosphere and finishing in 5:32:01, a long way short of the 4:54:08 PB I set for myself back at the end of 2015.

Put aside £500 from side hussles each month towards the deposit for a second property

This has been a big success surprisingly. Without including my standard wage from my supermarket job,-I’ve still managed to bring in a minimum of £500 each month on top of that, whilst still Mumming full time. I’ve picked up a bit of social media work for a few companies, a couple of design jobs, the odd bit of overtime from my supermarket job, a monthly paper round, some work marking coursework for an exam board, filled in a number of quizzes on Prolific, sold some unused items in our house and have recently started my journey into matched betting.

Rather than go on a deposit for a second property the money has actually all been put aside to pay for our garage to be converted into a playroom for Oscar. Work begins on the conversion this coming Monday and I can’t wait to be able to give Oscar a space of his own for his toys and games. So, although the money hasn’t been put aside for a house deposit, it has been used wisely (I hope!), will add value to our house (we already have enough drive space for two cars, and who uses garages nowadays anyway?!). Working hard to ensure I hit this target each month has shown me that I can side hussle enough money away on a regular basis to make a difference whilst still living reasonably comfortably.

I’ve had a few people ask me about Prolific just lately. It’s a survey site used by academics. You fill out a large number of screening questions when you first sign up for an account but then are only sent surveys you are able to answer and won’t be screened out of which is great. When Oscar is in nursery on a Friday, I spend most of the day catching up with freelance work in our home office on the computer and have Prolific open in a tab in the background. Most of the surveys are only a few minutes long so if one pops up whilst I’m working I usually switch tabs and complete it. Fridays are the only day I get on the computer now really since having Oscar, but I have still managed to cash out several hundred pounds over the last year which has definitely helped with household bills! If you are interested and would like to sign up and give it a go, please use my Prolific referral link. (I will get a small reward from Prolific when you cash out for the first time for sending you in their direction.)

Respond to/clear notifications on my phone quickly

I’m so much better at this than I used to be! I did have notifications set on my phone for lots of rubbish that I never really ever got time to check. I had a big cull a few months back where I stopped notifications every time certain people tweeted or posted on Instagram and that made a big difference. I find I really have to be in the mood to be actively engaged on Twitter and I was just letting the notifications all build up at the top of my screen until I had time to go through them, which was never! Now that I’m not forever clicking through notifications I have a bit more genuine time for Twitter which is nice, as it does tend to be my preferred social media platform.

Eat less processed food and encourage my Dad to do the same

I’ve cut back a bit, although not yet as much as I would like, but more importantly my Dad has made a massive overhaul to his diet. For somebody who wouldn’t think twice about eating several chocolates a day, (living near to a chocolate factory he was always stocking up on reduced chocolates!) he no longer buys in bags of chocolate for the house. He has also stopped having rich foods in the evenings and doesn’t eat after a certain time each evening as he realised that his choice of food and drink was affecting his sleep and the way that he felt. I am very proud of him. He’s had such a hard year; losing my Mum, his dog, four cousins and going from living in a large bungalow with three adults and a dog to just him, having to learn simple but vital tasks like online banking, writing and sending out Christmas cards (on time!) and keeping on top of the cleaning. All the jobs that my Mum used to take care of around the house. He’s definitely picked himself back up and is taking more control again now which is good.

Move at least 10,000 steps each day

I was definitely on target for this. It gave me a real motivation to get up and moving every day, even on the days I really didn’t feel like it. Unfortunately my Garmin Vivofit died in the middle of November though and I don’t have the spare money to replace it right now. Although I didn’t hit 10,000 steps every day, I managed several streaks of 50+ days across the year and easily maintained an average of 12,265 daily steps for 2018 despite the 6 missing weeks of data at the end of the year. I’m hoping perhaps next year I can justify spending on another fitness tracker, but for now, my arm is fitness tracker free.
I know I’m hitting a minimum of 10,000 steps a day at the moment anyway. I work overnight into Monday mornings, and I have always covered more than 10,000 steps during a shift. I then run the remaining six days of the week, with no run (other than my Saturday parkrun) shorter than 6 miles in distance.

Raise money for a cancer charity

I’m only really releasing details of my fundraising plans this week, so the bulk of my fundraising money will be collected during 2019.

Ronnie Staton, Race Director of HoboPace has incredibly generously offered to come and put on a talk for me to help raise funds for Cancer Research on the evening of the 29th March in Wellingborough. He intends to tell tales of extreme running adventures that he has encountered as a coach and as an athlete himself. Although this event has been arranged for a while now, I haven’t announced it until this point as Ronnie sadly suffered a stroke shortly before Christmas. His recovery has been going well though, and he has insisted he still wants to help make my fundraising evening happen. I am so thankful for the time he intends to put in towards making this work. I am just waiting for a couple of details to be confirmed on the tickets and then I will advertise tickets on the blog for anybody who would be interested in coming along.

Goals for 2019:

Become more confident talking to successful people

I once met Mimi Anderson (at a Write this Run event back in 2013?!) I sat in the corner of the room quietly whilst other runners posed for selfies with her. On meeting Will Mellor at a University club night I awkwardly just said “Can I have a photo?” when he tried to start up a conversation with me. I’ve met quite a few famous people over the years. (I had lunch with Katy Hill as a teenager and once sat and chatted to Frankie Dettori for a good twenty minutes. – I didn’t know who he was until afterwards, but that’s a whole other story!)

I want to become more confident with talking to people I view as successful. I find myself mumbling and without anything interesting to say, when I know that chances of a lifetime are slipping away! This coming weekend I’m heading to The Running Show as an ambassador for the event. I will be having photos taken alongside the other ambassadors and speakers on both days. Having my photo taken alongside such inspiring people as Paula Radcliffe, Jo Pavey and Nell McAndrew, – heroes of mine. I want to challenge myself to step outside of my comfort zone, ask for selfies, chat to those people and learn as much as I can from the experience. With my VIP entry I also have access to the VIP room and the VIP meet and greet area. I am so looking forward to the experience and really hope I can come out of my shell enough in order to make the most of the weekend.

(Picture from 2008 – there’s a blast from the past!)

Run a sub 4h 30m marathon

This WILL happen. It’s my main focus for the year. At the moment I’m putting everything into my London marathon training. No shiny ultras are going to distract me along the way this time!

Raise £3000+ for Cancer Research

Too many members of my family have died from cancer during the last 18 months. It scares me to think that without research even more family members could go down the same horrible route as my Mum. It scares me to think that Oscar’s family could slip away from him all due to the horrible illness. I want to be a part in helping to raise money for research to a cure and prevention.

Volunteer at parkrun at least six times, including in a new volunteer role

At the back of my mind I still really want to get a parkrun set up in our area, closer to home. I’ve had a couple of knock backs from local parks this past year but one day I’ll get there and I’ll be able to set something up I’m sure. When that day comes I’d like to have enough experience in the different roles to be able to assess what is required at the new event. I love the whole parkrun concept, and have known so many non-runners find the running bug after starting their running lives at the free 5k parkrun on a Saturday morning.

Declutter our house

This is a big thing for me.

My Dad is a hoarder. Not the kind you see on Channel four shows where the occupants of a house can barely make their way to the chair in the corner of the room and the bed hasn’t been seen for weeks. But, he’s always been a bit of a wheeler-dealer. He’s brought ‘bargains’ back from auctionhouses with the intention of selling them on for profit, and rarely throws anything away, just in case it comes in useful one day. His large five bed bungalow is very much full, and when my Nan (his Mum) died back in 2003 he built a large cabin-type shed in the garden to store her belongings. It still contains china and furniture and hundreds of photographs which he has put off sorting through.

I take after my Dad. An eye for a bargain and a hoarder of nostalgia. I have boxes of items of belongings that are only meaningful to me.
Having grown up sharing a room with his brother, when I first met Dan he had very few personal belongings. You could fit them all into one very small box. He has a few more now, but still nothing in comparison to the items I have in our house.

This past year though, since my Mum died and since having Oscar I feel as though I’m finally ready to start letting go of some of those belongings. I would much rather be spending quality time with my family than digging through boxes of paperwork to find a guarantee for something I never got round to filing, or having to spend time tidying away and cleaning under piles of things I don’t pick up for years at a time.

I’ve bought very few things into the house during 2018, as we have made huge cut-backs in order that I can remain a full time Mum to Oscar. It has done wonders for the clutter and staying at home has also given me a chance to begin clearing out and organising the space we do have. It also helps that I’ve become addicted to shows like Tidying Up and Consumed on Netflix since the start of the year! I want to spend my time with people, not things. This year I really want to clear out a good 30% of our items and become more minimalist about our belongings. My Dad has also asked me on a number of occasions now if I will help clear his house, so it will be a good year for us both I hope.

Continue blogging each week and retain blogging friendships

This is probably the hardest item on the list. To find a spare three hours or so to write a meaningful blog post each week is a really tough ask when I already cram so much else into my week, but I hate it when I don’t get time to write about a race, or leave it so long to write up my recap that I’ve forgotten half of the details. I love the blogging life – it’s become a real outlet for me over the past few years. I’ve gone from hiding away, hoping nobody I knew found out about my little corner on the internet, to sharing my blog address with runners from my running club and letting real life friends follow my AHM Instagram account. I’ve been invited to some fantastic events over the years and met some lovely people through blogging that I’m proud to call friends now. I hate that I don’t have the time to put into blogging and reading the blogs of friends that I once had, but hope to put more of a focus on this again during 2019.

How many hours do you spend writing blog posts?Are you a hoarder?Ever met anybody famous? Do you go all shy or ask for a picture?

2018 has been another year with not as much blogging as I would have really liked. (Just 35 posts in 2018!) But it has been a year filled with action packed fun and adventure when I looked back through my calendar and in my blog posts this weekend. (When is my life ever not filled with fun and adventure?!)

Once again, I’ve loved putting together this post and reminiscing over the past year of fun. Here goes…

* Super tasty meal out with Dan on our first date day since having Oscar.
* At the finish of the Robin Hood 100 in September. I finally ran 100 miles! My face says it all.
* At the end of the Milton Keynes Marathon in May. Such a ridiculously hot day. The support from the locals was incredible though.
* Headed up the first big hill of the South Downs Way 50 in April. I had such an epic race that day. Everything fell into place for me out on the trails.
* My Shires and Spires 35m medal from May. I ran my second fastest time on the course despite only using the race as a training run for my first 100 event.
* Volunteering as 30 minute pacer for the first time at Northampton parkrun at the start of the year.
* High fiving Oscar at the 85 mile point of my 100.
* Playing rounders on the roof of the Decathlon building in London.
* Comparing this year’s SDW50 medal with last year’s. A few seconds shy of an hour PB!

* Oscar playing at Wickstead Park.
* Enjoying his first time paddling in the sea at Wells in Norfolk.
* Our family holiday to the Isle of Wight and one of my favourite pictures of the three of us from the year.
* Just a sunny Saturday afternoon at the park across the road from us.
* Helping to collect potatoes for dinner at Grandad’s house.
* Oscar’s first ice skating trip at Beckworth Emporium.
* Watching the ducks with Grandad in Norfolk.
* My little mini me!
* Enjoying shoulder rides with Daddy at Irchester Country Park.

January:

Obviously a parkrun double was on the cards at the start of the year and I chose to run the Linford Wood/Milton Keynes double again with Laura.

In January I was frequently working three night shifts a week, managing the occasional parkrun on a Saturday morning and then trying to blog, train for my 100, keep on top of housework and Mum the rest of the time. Somehow I managed a few parkruns straight on the back of a night shift before heading home to bed, and one weekend after having already worked a back to back night I drove to Biggleswade, slept (if you can call it that!) for an hour in the front of my car, changed into my cross-country kit and ran the final cross-country race of the season!

It was also around this time that I had a health scare and was taken into hospital for a few scans. Although hopefully nothing to worry about I am still being monitored following that first hospital trip.

2018 was the first year of the National Running Show and I was so excited to visit in January. I was looking to meet new people and spend lots of money on fun running things! There were some great guest speakers and I bumped into a couple of people I knew through blogging at the show which was fun. I also managed to pick up some pace bands, which I’m hoping are going to come in handy for when I run London Marathon in April later this year.
I’m an ambassador for the event this year and although I’m poor and can’t really afford to spend any money at the show this time round, I can’t wait to see and hear all of the fantastic guest speakers they have lined up for next weekend!

I volunteered for first time as pacer for 30 minutes at Northampton parkrun, coming in at 29:58 – I couldn’t have gotten much closer to target than that!

At the end of the month we had a second funeral to attend for my Dad’s cousin. Another cancer victim in our family

February:

Dan was taken all over the country with work during 2018, often away for days at a time. I put a shoutout on our club Facebook page to see if anybody would be able to loan me a treadmill in the build up to the South Downs Way 100 and I was lucky enough to be able to borrow a treadmill!

After 17 months, Oscar finally started walking on his own on Valentine’s Day!

I also worked on the registration desk of our club trail race, the Welly Trail Half.

March:

I ran the Milton Keynes Half on Mother’s Day. The first Mother’s Day without my own Mum. Initially hoping for a shiny new half marathon PB, my dreams turned to dust when I had to pull over and limp the final eight miles after getting a sharp pain in my calf at mile 5. I was absolutely gutted and there were a few tears that morning.

The following day though, Dan, Oscar and I hopped into a very full car and headed off to York for our first family holiday. It was very much needed and I really enjoyed taking some time off from work, running and actually getting to spend some precious time with my boys.

Following my calf injury I booked in to see Fred at StrongLines. He taped up my calf and gave me a number of exercises to complete over the coming months to strengthen my weaker areas and ensure I made it to the start line of my 100 in June.

I nearly collapsed as I stood scanning barcodes at Northampton parkrun in the freezing cold one Saturday, luckily feeling much better after a trip to Magee’s and with a hot chocolate in hand to increase my sugar levels.

April:

Laura and I ran our traditional pre-Stanwick 10k run. It tipped it down this year and the usual route was flooded so they had to divert the course. (Laura and I still made it across the ford, but barely!)

I stepped down as website editor from my running club committee, and received a lovely bunch of flowers and thanks at the AGM.

One of my goals for the year was to complete the South Downs Way 50 in a faster time than I had the previous year as I’d still been breastfeeding back in 2017 and had stopped to express along the way! I’d have been pretty gutted if I had not been able to run the 2018 event faster!
Luckily, I achieved my goal, and finished nearly an hour faster than I had ran the event the previous year, smashing all of my goals for the race and building my confidence ready for the 100 miles along the same piece of course later on in the year.

I then spectacularly managed to mess up some parkrun tourism when I arranged to meet Laura at Luton parkrun. Turns out there are two parkruns in Luton! Luckily we each turned up at an event we hadn’t run before so still increased our tourism count even though we didn’t see each other that morning! Not my finest moment though! To think I was so chuffed to have arrived before Laura that day, when I always leave everything to the last minute!

May:

This year we attended four weddings and two Christenings, the first Christening fell on the first weekend in May for my friend Zoë’s little boy Oliver.

The following day was the Milton Keynes Marathon. Probably the hottest weather I have ever run in! I had decided by mile 11 to just enjoy the run rather than to run hard, and I had such a fun race!

A few weeks later I offered to pace another runner to a PB at the Shires and Spires ultra. The runner I was pacing achieved more than she had hoped for, taking over an hour off from her previous best, and crossing the lady as third in her age category, winning a trophy along the way!

June:

I didn’t blog much in June. (Once, about the Shires and Spires race.) All of my time was spent marking for OCR, working shifts at Tesco and preparing to run 100 miles at the South Downs Way.

I ran my first attempt at the 100 mile distance on the 2nd weekend in June, managing to get to 78 miles. Possibly the busy lead up to the event was what caused my downfall in not completing the race.

July:

As an ambassador for Decathlon I was invited to go and take part in filming for their Summer campaign – Sport for Every Body. I had so much fun down in London with a bunch of like-minded fitness bloggers and was sad when the day came to an end, even though I had the most stressful trip down and my interview answers on camera were so poorly constructed!

We started to make a massive dent in our garden this Summer, but due to the heatwave, could only get so far so that’s another mission to add to our 2019 to do list!

Oscar ran his first toddler dash at our club race at the end of July. Although I had visions of him happily toddling the whole length of the race, arms in air as he crossed the finish line, in reality it rained heavily for the duration of the race and Oscar sulked as soon as he realised the other toddlers were much older and bigger, therefore faster than him. He ducked under the barrier at the first opportunity and it took a lot of convincing from Dan and Me to keep him going until the end!

August:

I went to support Guy at the Grim Reaper race at the start of August. He was attempting the 70 mile distance, which had been where I ran my first 70. He had horrific heat for his attempt though, so I went along armed with ice lollies for him and the rest of his support crew. Sadly the heat got to him and the blisters which grew on his feet prevented him from getting past 40 miles on the day.

We met up with friends and their toddler at Clumber Park later in the week, not realising at the time that I would actually be running part of my 100 miler around the park later in the year.

It was also our fourth wedding anniversary on the 9th August. (That time has gone by so quickly!) A fourth anniversary is represented by flowers and fruit. I bought Dan a plant for our lounge and he treated me to a delivery of roses then we headed out for a date night dinner with Oscar in the evening after Dan had finished work.

August was also Dan’s 30th birthday, which we celebrated by having some of his closest friends over for the day. It was a fairly quiet celebration, as we were due to head off for a holiday to the Isle of Wight the next day.

We made a break for four days to the Isle of Wight to stay in a static caravan owned by Dan’s parents. It was the first time I had ever been to the Isle of Wight (or stayed in a caravan!), and we had a fantastic time away.

We headed back home ready for the weekend so that I may work and then we continued our Summer adventures by visiting my Dad in Norfolk the following week. So much lovely family time together, although we did have to attend the third family funeral of the year whilst we were back – for my Aunt/Godmother. Another cancer victim.

September:

I booked to run the Dunstable Downs marathon at the start of September rather last minute. The race fell a fortnight before my second 100 mile attempt, but I didn’t feel well going into the event and made the decision to pull before even getting to halfway, resulting in a massive knock to my confidence before goal race day.

I gained a new niece – my brother had a baby girl, Evie. Our second niece by that name. (Obviously the first by my brother!)

September was all about the completing my first 100 miler – the Robin Hood 100. I was so, so happy to cross that finish line and know that I had completed the distance I had set out to complete as one of my main goals at the start of the year!

I followed my 100 up with the Squeaky Bone relay race a few weeks later, running with three good friends as part of a relay team.

At the end of the month I was chosen as an Ambassador for The National Running Show, which is something I’m really looking forward to attending again this year.

October:

In October I offered to show other local members of the Run Mummy Run community some local running routes, and have regularly run out with a little group that live nearby since. I also got involved with the RMR takeover at Kettering parkrun, volunteering to set up and take down the equipment after the run.

Dan, Oscar and I took a trip to Wolverhampton to meet a friend’s baby.

Oscar got sick the following week and ended up hospitalised with pneumonia which was a rather scary time. The day after he left hospital I headed up to the Peak District to run the Dusk ’til Dawn marathon through the night with friends. I had so much fun, even though it was freezing out there!

My birthday is the 31st October and I celebrated(!) by hosting a Halloween party for four of Oscar’s friends and their Mums, and then did my paper-round in the evening! Oh how glamorous it is being a stay-at-home Mum in my 30s(!) We had so much fun at the party though!

November:

Dan had treated me to a spa day for my birthday, so on the first Friday in November we headed to a spa in Kettering for the day. It was lovely actually being able to spend time with just Dan again after so long.

A trip to Gower with friends for the marathon came the following weekend and it was nice to have some time completely away from being Mum for a couple of days and escape the madness of working five jobs!

The following weekend was the second cross-country event in the series. Our home race and again, ridiculously hard. Made even harder by the fact that a friend and fellow runner from the club had died the morning before following a cardiac arrest whilst out on a run. (Guy, who I had supported at Grim earlier in the year, and who had paced me at the Robin Hood 100.)

December:

December was a brighter month. With Christmas on the way, Dan, Oscar and I were invited down to London to film for the Decathlon campaign ‘Bikes are for Christmas’.

As Oscar was of an age where he understood the magic of Christmas a little better this year we made sure to fit as much of that Christmas magic into the month as possible.

We took him Ice Skating at Beckworth Emporium…

…to have our photo taken in a giant snow globe at Bosworths Garden Centre…

…and to West Lodge Farm Park to meet Santa.

We spent Christmas with my Dad, Aunt and Great Aunt in Norfolk and then just enjoyed having some time off as a family for the remaining few days that Dan had off before needing to return to work.

As always in December I produced the ‘Runner’s Runner of the Year’ videos for my running club awards evening. Annoyingly this year I was unable to attend the actual awards evening as Dan’s work do fell on the same night and we were unable to get anybody else to look after Oscar for the evening. It was a shame as I love watching the expressions on the faces of runners at the evening as they realise that they have been nominated and they become engrossed in reading the lovely comments that have been sent in about their running over the year.

Due to time constraints I’m not even on the club committee anymore, but I was still asked to make the videos this year. It’s a job I really enjoy though, as it’s so lovely reading all of the amazing achievements that each of the runners at our club have had over the course of the year.

Our club awards evening is held at the start of December, and in the weeks leading up to the awards evening members are asked to nominate both a male and female runner who they feel have been inspiring, encouraging, supportive, hard working, have improved a great deal or have just been a fantastic runner across the year! It’s an opportunity for an award to go to somebody who isn’t necessarily the fastest runner at the club and is an award viewed very highly by all club members.

Once nominations are closed, I usually have about a week to put together the videos, choosing one or two reasons given for each person nominated to display on the video alongside images of them in action throughout the year. The videos take me probably about 20 or so hours to create in total – with the picture-finding being the most time consuming part!

Male video for 2018:

(Winner: Craig Clements)

Female video for 2018:

(Winner: Sarah Rowse)

Once again I received a few nominations this year.

* Mary’s achievements this year speak for themselves but her determination and belief in herself is unmatched. Go Mary!!

* Mary is one of the strongest people I know! There is no challenge too big and once she’s made her mind up, she will keep going until she’s absolutely smashed it. Even though she’s completed huge challenges such as her 100 miler, she could not be more humble and is always so supportive of other runners with their goals too. Mary is simply an inspiration.

* Mary has shown so much True Grit this year after her setback on the SDW100. She has shown that with hard work you can achieve your dreams, from training in the wee hours to get the miles in, to dragging herself off the floor at mile 74.

Super sappy, but I say it every year – whenever I watch the videos back and look at all the fun times and achievements everybody I run with has had it instantly picks me up and makes me want to get back outside running with my friends again. So, so glad that I decided to join that beginner running group way back in 2011.

The week before Christmas is when I really start to feel Christmassy. The cross-country series my running club runs in holds it’s final cross-country race of the year the week before Christmas, and my club always organises a Christmas Eve run around our local country park, finishing with hot drinks and sausage rolls at the cafe.

Everybody gets into the Christmas spirit at the Letchworth cross-country race. Santa hats, tinsel and then Christmas themed sandwiches and cake at the finish (think ham and mustard, turkey and stuffing, brie and cranberry…!)

After a disappointing first two events of the series where I walked on numerous occasions and didn’t run the races I had hoped, I decided to wear my heart rate monitor for this event and to stick to a very reserved 165bpm over the cross-country course in order to remain consistent during my run. No walking would be a success!

We set off and I managed a strong start as we first ran a lap of the field passing our supporting club members and out at the end onto the farmyard tracks. I was ahead of runners I knew would probably overtake as we continued. Several runners from my club went on to overtake me around the 1 mile mark on the course.

As we turned a narrow corner, we passed a chap playing Christmas songs on a brass horn of some sort which picked everybody up ready for hill we knew would soon be coming up.

The course heads out along farmyard tracks. You run a lollipop shape around a couple of fields and then head back down the lollipop stick again the way the course first headed out. The front runners always turn back onto the stick of the lollipop just as I’m about to leave it and so I like cheering other club members on here. It was nice to see a couple of our runners in the top 10 as they turned back for the finish.

There’s only really one hill on the course (it’s on the stick so you run it twice), but I focused on trusting my heart rate monitor, overtaking several runners who had resorted to walking both times we made the climb.

I felt rather lumbery in style, but satisfied that I was getting the job done without giving in and walking the hills or with crazy varied paces over the 5.5 mile distance.

There’s a horrible short, sharp bank to climb with quarter of a mile to go. Luckily there’s usually a marshal on hand to help haul you up, and I took advantage of the hoist out of the hole this year!

Quick smile and a wave to our two photographers on course…

I managed a little kick at the finish and still felt comfortable at the end, so my mission to race smart was successful.

Position: 332/400Gender position: 107/161Age category position: 13/16

First Christmassy run done, onto the next with parkrun the following weekend.

I headed to Kettering parkrun for my final parkrun before Christmas. Although initially unsure how busy it would be (Kettering were holding a pacing event on the 22nd) it didn’t actually feel too busy when we were running around. The initial plan had been for me to run with Oscar in the buggy and for Dan to use a pacer to attempt a new PB, but after loudly banging piles of shoes around downstairs for twenty minutes Dan came to the realisation that he had left his running trainers at work the previous day so would not be able to join in with a parkrun that morning. Following our frantic search for his shoes, it left me with just enough time to jump into the car and make it to the start line in time for the start of the briefing.

So instead Oscar stayed at home with Dan and I jogged around the course with Laura, who I hadn’t run with in a little while so we had a catch up and an easy run round.

I have this massive fear that one day on the Kettering course I’m going to slip and fall over on the boardwalk and then slide out under the barriers and into the water below! Hopefully this won’t ever become a reality!

The club Christmas Eve run was different this year. A couple of friends I normally run with couldn’t make it this year and I had worked a night shift on the Sunday (the night before), so rushed home at the end of my shift to sneak a quick hour of sleep in before heading over for the run. I then ended up arriving late and missing the start anyway.

I had a lovely run with a friend and her husband who I managed to catch sight of as Dan dropped me off at the park, but I missed the annual pre-run photo and missed seeing a lot of people before they left for Christmas which was a shame.

Dan met us at the end of the run and Oscar was in a foul mood after a poor night of sleep. It had taken Dan the length of my entire run to get Oscar to walk not quite as far as the cafe entrance and then we had a battle to get him into his car seat for home again afterwards. It took approximately half an hour to convince him to stay in his car seat long enough to be buckled in for the journey home! Not a battle we had planned on facing on Christmas Eve morning!

So frustratingly, the parkrun Dan and I had planned to attend on Christmas Day (Sheringham) had been cancelled a few days earlier. National Trust had decided that due to the heavy rainfall in the area that week, they wanted to give the ground a little time to recover between runs. The Sheringham event is fairly close to where my Dad lives…ten minutes away. (Why oh why was parkrun not a thing when I lived at home?!) The next nearest event that was being held on Christmas Day was in Norwich, nearly an hour’s drive from my Dad’s house and in the complete opposite direction to where my Aunt lives (Kings Lynn) who we had promised to pick up mid-morning and bring back to my Dad’s for lunch. So a Christmas Day parkrun was sadly off the cards this year.

Did you take part in any Christmassy runs this year?Does your parkrun ever get cancelled due to the weather?Any tips for reasoning with a stroppy two year old to convince them to get into their car seat?! Haha!

About Mary…

Hi there! I'm Mary, an ICT teacher living in Northants, UK.
I fell in love with running and healthy eating a few years ago and have used my blog to keep track of my running and food adventures ever since.Want to know more?...